Never Give Away Your Advantage
by journeyman07
Summary: An epilogue for your enjoyment: Jennifer has that chat with Rodney. Enjoy. Spoilers for Tracker and The Lost Tribe
1. Chapter 1

'Never give away your advantage.'

Ronon couldn't help a slight smile as he remembered Jennifer's reaction to his advice during their recent sparring session. The slight intake of breath, the quickened heartbeat when he gazed at her pulse point and the delicate subtle flush mounting in her cheeks.

She had lied.

He was sure of it.

He just couldn't figure out why.

It was not in Ronon Dex's nature to doubt his actions. Actually there had never been any _time_ for Ronon Dex to doubt his actions. For so long life had been about acting first, fighting hard, getting out and never looking back …but now? He considered his actions on the Daedalus towards Jennifer for the hundredth time; had he been too heavy-handed? They had been in a desperate situation – it been one of those times when immediate actions _were _needed. He'd taken the initiative and they _were _all still alive.

Ronon shook his head – all this introspection was alien to him. Instinct told him Jennifer had lied both to him and to herself over being interested in someone else. He'd stick with that and wait…wait until she was ready to tell him why….and in the mean time hope he hadn't given away _his_ advantage.

Returning to the present, he tried to focus on what McKay was saying. It was a customary mission briefing in Woolsey's office – an event Ronon found more often than not to be frustrating and tiresome.

'And so…' the Satedan finally tuned in to what Atlantis' chief scientist was saying, 'and so…I think…we may…well no, we _have_ found Kiryk.'

Ronon was aware that all eyes rapidly turned towards him as he swung his feet from the desk in one fluid movement. Coiled, and suddenly completely intent on what Rodney was saying, he muttered.

'Are you sure?'

'It can only be him…' McKay began, the ramifications of detecting the tracking device signal etched in a deep frown on his brow.

'But I thought Jenn…Dr Keller….fried his implant?' Ronon growled.

'Yeah,' Sheppard concurred, 'how come it's back….online, as it were?'

'We don't know,' Rodney exchanged a worried glance with Jennifer Keller, who was biting her lip and staring at the screen display ignoring them all.

'Somehow,' she began gravely after a long pause, ' it's reactivated…it's definitely him…I kept the recording of his device's signal pattern…and…'

'OK, let's go,' Ronon stood; for him there was nothing more to be said. He adjusted his gun belt and holster automatically.

'Ronon!' Woolsey's sharp nasal tones halted him.

Ronon wasn't quite able to mask his look of derisive irritation as he turned.

'If we don't get to him, he will be dead…very soon!' the rawness in the Satedan's voice made Richard Woolsey blink with its intensity.

'Now look…' he held a nervous hand out to pacify the taller man, 'we need…'

'No, _you_ look,' Ronon Dex used his height to full advantage and stepped forward, towering over Atlantis's leader, his voice low, 'when the Wraith realise they can track Kiryk, they wont hold back, they will hunt him. They will hunt him down until he's dead this time, because he…got…away.'

Ronon could see these implications sink in as Woolsey's eyes widened.

'I promised him,' Ronon added, his voice quieter, 'and I promised Celise.'

Quiet descended over the briefing room; no one moved.

'OK,' Richard Woolsey conceded eventually with an air of resignation, 'you have a go,'

He warily took a tiny step away from the bristling Satedan, hoping no one would notice.

Ronon simply looked past his shoulder at Sheppard who nodded and was already leaving the table.

'But take medical backup with you,' Woolsey added firmly nonetheless, 'we cannot let Kiryk back here with that device active.'

This time Ronon dared himself to meet Jennifer's eyes. She was the obvious choice – she'd made the original, albeit seemingly unsuccessful alterations to Kiryk's tracking implant. She was already looking straight back at him. Had it been so long since he'd actually gazed properly on Jennifer Keller's face? Surely not - it had only been days since their fateful conversation…and hours since they'd been at sparring practice…but it felt…

'I'll get my equipment,' she said quietly, eyes lowering quickly from Ronon's, busying herself in gathering together a laptop and various papers.

'OK,' Sheppard added brusquely, 'let's get moving people.'

'Jennifer!' Ronon called out after her small figure scurrying down the hallway. She turned, the laptop hugged to her chest, wide eyes looking up at him.

_She's nervous_, Ronon realised and slowed his barrelling walk to a more relaxed pace.

'You don't have to come if…Sheppard could…' he began, suddenly feeling awkward himself, 'I mean…another doctor could…'

A tight worried smile stretched across her face before Jennifer Keller replied quietly, 'No, I want to come, it was me who tried deactivating Kiryk's tracking device, and…' she paused, a crack sounding in her voice, 'and…obviously it's not worked...so…'

'I just thought…' Ronon offered when her words faltered again.

'I need to know Kiryk's OK as much as you do, Ronon,' she brushed aside the other unspoken agenda between them, 'and I also promised Celise,'

'OK,' Ronon accepted that explanation and nodded. He turned and headed towards the jumper bay – this wasn't the time and he knew it. Besides he was already beginning to focus on the prospect of rescuing Kiryk. There was much Ronon had come to understand about the other Runner, even in the short time they'd spent together. If there was a chance they could free Kiryk from the relentless hunt enforced on him by the Wraith, then Ronon wanted to be part of that.

So he didn't see Atlantis' CMO staring after him for a long moment, before disappearing in the direction of the infirmary.

_**A/N:**__ Reviews and feedback are very welcome…obviously supportive ones are loved the best (!) as I feel a bit tentative about this after the aforementioned mega dry spell!! I have quite an adventure in mind, assuming you all like this first chapter?_

_Beta-ed by __**renisanz**__, because other wise I wouldn't dare post it._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sighing, Jennifer turned back to the infirmary door, but not before she had one last look at Ronon Dex's retreating back. His stride was purposeful – as were most of the Satedan's actions – not to mention direct, unstoppable and infinitely strong.

She still wasn't quite sure why she'd said what she'd said when they'd returned from the Daedalus. Maybe it was because of this strength she saw in Ronon. Maybe she'd felt overwhelmed by it-by him-by the intense light in his green eyes whenever he looked at her…maybe it was…Jennifer sighed and abruptly halted her train of thought. The one thing she could be sure of was that she was muddled. Really muddled.

Rodney was far more her type, that is, if she had a type at all.

_And let's face it, my love life isn't known for its longevity or variety, _she reminded herself wryly.

Yes, she was probably much better off with Rodney McKay - at least she could be sure of his feelings. The Satedan was all dark eyes, brooding silences and explosions of physical action. Not her sort, not to mention the whole man-from-another-planet thing. So, why did she feel strangely warm when Ronon was around, and lighter somehow? Jennifer had seen a side to the ex-Runner that was far from brooding…just briefly in the quarantine shut down. Honestly, she'd hoped it might have meant something, but Ronon had never pursued it…until lately that is.

Which brought her right back to being muddled, really muddled.

Atlantis' CMO shook her head and pushed aside her confusion. _Concentrate on the job in hand, Jennifer, _she instructed herself firmly.

Celise smiled at Jennifer Keller as her favourite doctor approached her bedside. The young girl's recovery had taken longer than Jennifer had expected and finding her a foster family had been subsequently delayed.

'Hey you,' Jennifer affectionately pushed back a strand of hair behind Celise's ear as her professional eye took in her small patient's condition.

The little girl blushed with pleasure at this attention and smiled.

'How are we today?'

'I feel fine, Jennifer, really, I think I'm doing well,' Celise propped herself up on her pillows. Her tone of voice didn't hide her polite frustration at still being confined to the infirmary.

Jennifer smiled back at Celise. Similarly, she was not able to completely mask her fond amusement at the girl's obvious desire to be declared fit and well.

'You are doing very well, Celise,' she squeezed her patient's hand reassuringly, 'tomorrow I think it'll be time for Marie to get you moving about…slowly…on that leg!'

'Marie?' Celise immediately blushed again at the implication of this question, 'I'm sorry..' she stammered, 'I thought that…'

'It's OK, sweetie,' Jennifer nodded, understanding. They still knew little about their youngest guest in the city, as Celise was reluctant to discuss her past in any depth. Jennifer in fact had counselled against much questioning until the young girl was further along the road to recovery. 'I would have liked to be here to see you on your feet again, but I have to go on an important mission…'

And here Dr Keller paused, unsure as to how to continue.

'Is Ronon still here?' Celise asked. Jennifer smiled. Very few people knew just how many regular visits the gruff Satedan had made to Celise's bedside sometimes just to keep her company, sometimes to play what looked like a Pegasus version of checkers and at other times to read to her. The latter had surprised Jennifer the most. She'd never thought for one moment that Ronon Dex could actually read, but of course he could – and she'd since chided herself for thinking so narrowly. After all Sateda had been a developed world with a distinctive history and culture of its own.

What had really astonished her was that he'd learned how to read English…fluently in fact. She'd gently asked him about it once (before she'd said what she'd said) and Ronon had merely shrugged, saying he had just needed practise.

'No, he's coming on the same mission,' Jennifer explained carefully, 'Celise, we're going to find Kiryk.'

The little girl's eyes widened and she instinctively tensed.

'Really? You know where he is?' she sounded excited, breathless even.

'Well,' Jennifer frowned, 'his tracking device is giving off a signal again, so we have found him because of that,'

'But I thought…' the hint of tears in the girl's eyes brought a lump to Jennifer's throat, 'I thought he wasn't a runner anymore? You fixed it, right?'

'I thought so, honey, I really did,' Jennifer dropped her eyes from Celise for a moment, 'which is why we have to find him,'

'I want to come…' Celise whispered hoarsely. Jennifer shook her head gently with a slight smile.

'No, Kiryk will want you to get well, remember, that's what I promised him,' she replied softly, 'you want to be well when you see him again, don't you?'

Her patient nodded, eyes still wide and still glistening with half formed tears. Jennifer breathed out and leaned over to kiss Celise's forehead.

'We'll find him, don't worry,' she murmured.

'OK,' the small voice returned, not entirely convinced, 'and look after Ronon too,' she added.

'Oh, he doesn't need looking after,' Jennifer responded breezily to this, squeezing Celise's hand again.

'Yes, he does,' the serious tone in the girl's voice caught Jennifer unawares, 'he needs looking after by you, he's been on his own a long time, just like Kiryk.'

The wise and oddly prophetic nature of Celise's words stayed with Jennifer as she made her way to the jumper bay. The spell was only broken by Rodney McKay enthusiastically calling out her name and waving her over.

'Jennifer!' Atlantis's chief scientist beamed at her, 'come and sit by me,' he suggested cheerily, indicating the space on the seat in the puddle jumper, 'ready for our next adventure?!'

A wry tut made her look towards the jumper cabin. She met Ronon's amused eyes for just a moment, before he looked away and began buckling himself into the seat next to Colonel Sheppard's pilot position.

'Rodney,' Teyla swept past them with her usual quiet grace, 'I cannot recall a time when you were so keen to go off-world,' she smiled conspiratorially at Jennifer.

'Let alone for a rescue mission!' John Sheppard threw in over his shoulder, as the jumper engines powered into life.

'Well, you know,' Rodney McKay smiled a little awkwardly, 'I can do rescuing, I like rescuing, especially since it's Kiryk and all…rescuing…of Kiryk, you know?'

Jennifer patted his arm and nodded, 'I know, Rodney,' she said and smiled at him appreciating his efforts to look brave for her sake. At least she thought it was for her sake. Nothing was clear in her mind – again, it was the one thing Jennifer Keller was actually sure of.

'Hold on, kids,' Sheppard said as the jumper ascended into the open reaches of blue sky beyond the city.

..........................................................

On another world, Kiryk Tavin looked up at the night sky and watched a mighty ship land in the distance. Its metallic roar was oddly familiar as was the display of orange and yellow pyrotechnics caused by engines firing in descent. Even from his vantage point at the head of the valley, the artificial light it created was significant. The whole landscape was instantly lit, only to be plunged straight back into darkness moments later.

He frowned, rolled out of his makeshift dug out and disappeared swiftly like a shadow into the darkening forest.

..........................................................

**A/N: **beta-ed by renisanz with thanks – she rocks!

I think after The Lost Tribe, Atlantis has lost its stargate, so that's why there's no reference to the team leaving through it for this adventure - being as it's set just after that episode. I haven't yet seen Outsiders or Inquisition to know if it reappears, so apologies if I've got it wrong!

And thanks SO much for your reviews and encouragement for Chapter 1 – I really appreciate it – more please! J07 x


	3. Chapter 3

Kiryk stepped out from the tree line at last and took a deep breath of still night air. He didn't venture any further. Not just yet. The dark wall of trees at his back was oddly reassuring. Comforting even. Such places had provided shelter, food and disguise on many planets, as he'd run from the Wraith. He wasn't quite ready to let the branches and leaves go...not entirely.

He leaned back against a wide, stout trunk and smiled wryly up into its overhead canopy. At the same time, his Runner's instincts were assessing the land ahead, what the shadows and the noises he didn't yet recognise might mean.

Clicking the comms link open, he relaxed a little and waited for acknowledgement.

'Kiryk?' a woman's voice sounded sharply in the quiet darkness.

'Here,' he responded simply, moving the device briefly to his mouth, eyes still on the terrain ahead.

'I'm sending you our coordinates,' the crisp voice informed him.

Kiryk raised an eyebrow at this business like manner from his correspondent.

'No need,' he allowed himself an amused smile, 'I saw where you set down my ship.'

There was a long pause at this. Kiryk waited. He'd expected this.

'Your ship?' the distain was evident in the female voice, 'I hardly think so, and I won her from you fair and square.'

'Interesting definition of events,' he replied grimly, taking the first steps towards his rendezvous.

'We can discuss this when you arrive.' The tones were even more clipped than ever,

'You're lucky we have the charter, Kiryk, otherwise-'

'So are you,' the big man interrupted, 'As you say, we can discuss this soon, Kiryk out.'

He flipped the comms link off decisively and broke into a loping run.

………………………………………………………………………………………

'Well, there's already a Wraith cruiser in orbit,' John Sheppard remarked with a feigned casual air. He peered at the display screen and sighed.

'How far out?' Rodney McKay said immediately, 'And what are they doing?'

Sheppard rolled his eyes at this customary panicky reaction from the scientist.

'What?' Rodney muttered, 'so I don't like Wraith to be about, so what?!'

'They don't _seem,_' Sheppard emphasised the word, 'to be doing anything…'

'Almost like they're waiting…' Teyla remarked, perusing the display with a frown.

'Until Kiryk is out in the open for the hunt, or in a place where they can have the best _sport_,' Ronon delivered this last word with undisguised derision.

Sheppard nodded in agreement, 'Yeah, that would make sense.'

'He won't know that the tracking implant is active again,' they all turned at Jennifer's soft but worried voice. She flushed slightly at this scrutiny, 'I mean, unless he's had a scanner on it…and…you know…why would he? He thinks the device is inactive now.'

'OK,' Sheppard acknowledged this, 'I think we'll just shoot round the other side of the planet and see what we can see. No need to greet the Wraith unless we have to,'

'Good plan!' Rodney agreed brightly then glowered at another tut from the Satedan. He hurriedly looked back at his own display console.

'Looks like Kiryk is in that quadrant anyway,' he added and pointed out the tracking device signal now evident on the main display screen.

'OK, people, not much further,' Sheppard murmured as he touched the jumper flight controls lightly and guided the small craft on its new course.

Dawn was breaking on the side of the planet they soared over. Below were swathes of lush forest, rolling down steep valley sides cut by the silver threads of rivers. The sky was a curious, but not altogether displeasing, lilac colour. This is turn was reflected in a series of small lakes dotted below.

'It's beautiful,' Teyla observed, taking in the sight of two large moons slipping below the horizon.

'No habitation out there top side though,' Sheppard added to her musings, glancing at the sensor readouts, 'and before you make comments about backwater hamlets again, Rodney, remember that whole civilisations can live underground!'

Rodney McKay shook his head disparagingly, 'Yes, yes, I realise that, but even the Genii would find it hard tunnelling into this kind of terrain,'

'True, true,' Sheppard confirmed, steering the jumper over a particularly impressive mountain range covered in snow and ice.

'Looks like Sateda,' Ronon remarked quietly.

Sheppard couldn't help but glance at his teammate in surprise. Ronon had rarely ever said anything about his devastated home world. He knew its loss was a heavy burden for the stoic warrior. So he'd never asked. But he'd always wanted to know.

'Really?' he prompted, hoping Ronon might expand on this a little. Lately the Satedan had seemed a little warmer and a little more open in his exchanges with them all. Goodness knows it had taken long enough, but then who else among them had been through what Ronon Dex had been through at the hands of the Wraith? Not even Teyla – and that was saying something.

'Yeah,' Ronon shifted a little in his seat, aware of their eyes him acutely, 'there was a mountain range a lot like that just outside my city,'

'And don't tell me…' Rodney cut in making Sheppard wince, 'you used to go hunting there or engage in other such macho pursuits?'

'Rodney!' Jennifer's indignation at this was clear to all, even though she'd hardly raised her voice. It was an instinctive reaction and one that caused Ronon's impassive gaze to soften just for a brief moment before the protective Runner's mask closed in place again. Yet Sheppard noticed, like he noticed a lot of things of this nature, without people realising.

And not for the first time he wondered if the good doctor's presence was the reason for Ronon's easier demeanour of late. Ronon had once said that he wasn't ready for anyone new. Maybe now he was. Sheppard wasn't sure, but resolved to monitor this possible development.

'Well, I was just…' Rodney McKay began, obviously squirming, ' isn't that what….? You know…?' he looked to Ronon desperately for rescue.

'Yes,' the other man confirmed dryly, 'we hunted…from an early age in fact,'

'I remember you said you learned when you were six years old?' Teyla interjected smoothly.

'That's the Satedan way, yes,' Ronon nodded, and added, 'sometimes younger,'

'I'm picking up a reading,' John Sheppard offered his own interjection and all focus swapped rapidly to the display screen.

'What's that?' Jennifer murmured, moving forward. They were all intrigued.

'I think…' Sheppard began, enhancing the readout as best he could, 'that's another ship, it's landed…'

'Wraith?' Ronon asked immediately.

'No, no, I don't think so…' came the colonel's puzzled reply, 'but why it's all the way out here on this empty planet, who knows... so I think we'll just cloak to be safe…fancy taking a look?'

He grinned at his team, clearly enjoying this unexpected turn of events. Ronon, Teyla and Jennifer nodded but Rodney had his eye on his console.

'Kiryk's signal seems to be going in its direction too,' he stated curiously and looked up at them all.

'Ok then, that settles it,' Sheppard took the jumper lower in a smooth arc, close enough for them to take in the mysterious ship's dimensions and high enough for them to evade any routine sensor sweeps.

The long, battered craft was a jumbled assortment of oddly mismatched metal structures. There were no clean lines, nor any obvious design or intention to its random build. Deep scorch marks suggested that it had recently come under heavy fire as well. Nonetheless a makeshift but powerful weapons array was still in evidence.

'What a piece of junk!' Rodney exclaimed, echoing all their thoughts.

Not all their thoughts.

'John?' Teyla first noticed the unusual reticence from their team leader, 'what is it?'

'I know that ship,' Sheppard stated in a low voice.

**A/N: **beta-ed by **renisanz **with thanks.

Hope you're all still enjoying my little tale…GLENN has certainly paid me a visit recently Nika, (you have him well trained) and left me with a whole parcel of ideas! Kiryk has so much potential….wait until you see what I have in store! J07 x


	4. Chapter 4

Kiryk waited.

The dawn was breaking and lilac fingers of light stretched across the sky. It caused the metal hide of the great ship before him to look even more mottled than before; its patchwork of flaws accentuated in the morning glow.

He tilted his head sideways a little, examining that ship's hull critically and sighed. It was still a few hours' hike away; Kiryk wondered what the old craft would look like close up and shuddered slightly at the thought.

'It's been a long time, Kiryk,' a woman's voice sounded quietly to his right.

How…what? How had she managed to get so close to his vantage point at the edge of the tree line? He'd heard nothing. He'd been watching the ship all this time. How?

His pistol came up automatically, then lowered as he saw three burly men behind the slight figure who'd broken the silence.

'Larrin,' Kiryk acknowledged and stepped out into the open.

They looked at each other for a long moment. So much to say, so much left unsaid and so much that might _never_ be said.

Larrin Shogar arched one eyebrow, pursed her lips and regarded him through narrowed eyes.

'I heard they made you a Runner,' she stated eventually.

'You heard right,' Kiryk confirmed and smiled wryly; he should have known there'd be no pleasantries or semblance of a greeting. Larrin got straight to the heart of the issue as always: would he be a threat to her and the crew in any way? And could he be trusted? He recalled that this tough, intelligent but ruthless young woman trusted no one – as if by default.

'How long?' came her next question – still calm, still expressionless.

'Four years,'

That caused her dark eyes to widen in surprise just a little. A barely noticeable reaction, but Kiryk knew this had struck home with her.

'Most don't survive beyond a year…' Larrin mused aloud, obviously reappraising the tall man before her, 'I've only heard of one…' to Kiryk it seemed as if she stopped herself from expanding on this further, but not before he'd heard what she'd said, '…have you had the device removed?'

'No…' he began and was halted by the sound of three laser pistols arming themselves in his direction, 'whoa…' he spread his hands, 'but it's been deactivated.'

'We'll have to verify that of course,' Larrin instructed him curtly, clearly unconvinced. Kiryk nodded – it was a reasonable request.

'Why did you land the whole ship?' he changed the subject deftly. 'Why no shuttle to pick me up?'

For the first time Larrin looked uncomfortable and a shadow passed briefly across her inscrutable gaze.

'None of them are fit to fly,' she admitted, 'we took heavy fire the last time we came across the Wraith,'

'Surely you can make repairs?' Kiryk replied; the Traveler lifestyle he'd been born to pulled him oh-so-easily back into discussion about how to rebuild ships from nothing and get airborne as soon as possible. That was all he'd ever known until that fateful day the Wraith had captured him.

'Takes a certain skill set to repair shuttles and we lost a lot of good people in the last attack…'

They looked at each other again.

'You need me then,' he stated flatly. This had nothing to do with the Traveler charter that stipulated no one born shipside should be left on the ground when rescue was needed. This was about Larrin's needs for survival.

'I do,' she smiled tightly, 'how about that?'

'I want my ship back,' Kiryk replied, hands crossed in from of him as he stared his old adversary down.

'No, I don't think so,' came the swift and steely rejoinder.

Kiryk looked at the three laser pistols trained unwaveringly on his chest and sighed. He wanted to get back to his people. He wanted to get back to what he knew. He then wanted some day to get back to Atlantis and check that the girl – Celise - had lived. The pretty doctor had promised she'd take care of her and he had a feeling Jennifer Keller's promises were solid and good. And most of all he wanted to be free…airborne…sailing again.

'Seems like you have the advantage, Larrin,' he conceded gruffly.

She smiled, 'I always did, Kiryk….and that was always the problem for you.'

……………………………………………………………………………………

'Are you sure?' Teyla asked John Sheppard again. The colonel nodded grimly remembering the feisty, attractive but dangerous Traveler captain with a sinking feeling. _No meeting with Larrin ever went well_, Sheppard mused. Even if the ultimate outcome of saving the day was achieved, she still managed to make him feel … he winced at the thought…._that_ _she'd cut his balls off._

'What is she doing out here?' Rodney muttered, his eyes moving rapidly over the sensor readouts the Traveler ship was providing him with.

'Kiryk,' Ronon concluded first, 'Kiryk is a Traveler.'

Jennifer nodded in agreement just a second ahead of Rodney, 'Yes, that has to be it, why else would he be out here?'

'They're picking him up,' Ronon finished for her.

She smiled at the Satedan and nodded.

'Well, I'll be…' Sheppard breathed out, trying to relax, 'you know what?' he turned to them all, tearing his eyes away from the sight beneath them, 'it sure is a small universe!'

'Hmmmm…' Rodney muttered, and pointed at the display before them, 'and likely to be smaller very soon… that Wraith cruiser is on the move,'

'Where's Kiryk?' the Colonel immediately focused.

'A good four to five hours away from Larrin's ship,' Rodney surmised, 'on foot that is….'

'That's three hours for him then,' Ronon added matter-of-factly as the scientist frowned at him.

Jennifer remembered the speed the big man could move at in an instant, 'yeah, Ronon's right, he can really move. We have to get to him,'

'Uh…Wraith cruiser…anyone?' Rodney Mckay tried to remind them nervously.

He frowned at the look both Jennifer and Ronon shot him – a mixture of exasperation and concern for the welfare of the man they'd come to rescue. Except that Kiryk didn't know he needed a rescue, not yet – that was the worrying factor.

'OK, kids, buckle up,' Sheppard intervened, 'we're still cloaked, so we're gonna try and set down not far from Kiryk's position, Ronon…?'

The Satedan nodded and moved to the back of the jumper. He was the best qualified to track the other Runner after all. It would be more effective if he went first when they landed and preferably at the kind of speed that might catch up with Kiryk.

Jennifer shuffled over so Ronon could sit nearest the rear jumper door and busied herself with her safety belt. A finely tuned hum sounded from the small ship's engines. It banked sharply under Sheppard's piloting expertise and began to speed over the tree tops in the direction of Kiryk's tracking device signal.

Taking the safety belt from her fumbling hands, Ronon gently guided it into place. Why was she _so_ nervous around him? He felt acutely aware of the curtain of dark-blonde hair that fell across Jennifer's face as she watched his actions. A few of its tendrils brushed his forearm, making his skin tingle. He felt, rather than saw, the faint blush that began on her neck and crept up her face.

'You should come with me,' he told her softly, not moving away so their faces were still close. Very close.

'Why? I mean…you don't…I…' Jennifer stuttered.

'So you can deactivate Kiryk's device,' Ronon replied, with a slight smile, wondering what she'd thought he'd meant.

Jennifer's shoulders relaxed just a little, 'Oh, OK, yes, of course,' came her whispered reply, 'but…Ronon…?'

Something in her tone drew him up short.

'Yeah?'

'I can't keep up with you,' she said in a small voice. The vulnerability in this confession and Jennifer's blushing face looking up at him made the Satedan's chest contract. Was _this _what it was all about? That she was afraid she wasn't good enough for him in someway? Or not brave enough perhaps? Didn't she _know _that bravery was precisely about facing fear?

'You will,' Ronon said simply. He noticed how Jennifer's eyes now held the hint of tears.

'I'm scared,' she murmured, before looking down from his intense gaze.

'Yeah, me too,' Ronon told her truthfully.

Jennifer glanced at him sharply, 'Really?'

'Yeah, really,' he grinned at her, 'kinda used to it, was scared everyday for seven years.'

'When you were a Runner?' she gazed at him.

'Yeah,' Ronon confirmed. It felt good to say so. 'It's what kept me alive though, and it's what'll keep you moving,'

'You think so?' Jennifer's voice was still full of uncertainty.

'I do,' Ronon was sure of this; she was far braver than she knew – he'd seen this on the Daedalus, 'that and the fact you want to help Kiryk.'

'OK,' she smiled at him and he felt warmed for a moment.

'Five minutes people,' Sheppard's tones sounded in the cabin, 'be ready.'

**A/N:** the wonderful **renisanz **is still knocking this into shape for me, as well as rising to the NaNoWrimo challenge at the same time! Don't forget to read her fanfics and/or send her encouraging comments.

Reviews really do keep me writing – so please leave me some, especially if you're enjoying this fic, of course! Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Larrin slowed her pace and examined the sensor readouts on her wrist console in alarm.

'What is it?' Kiryk quizzed her.

He stepped backwards instinctively. Her pistol had whipped out from nowhere.

Unwaveringly shoved in his face.

Yet most of his stunned reaction was due to the ugly look of fury she shot him.

'Wraith!' she hissed, as her three crew members closed in around him with menace, 'There is a Wraith cruiser heading this way, towards the ship! Explain that one, Kiryk!'

'What?' his genuine confusion threw her for a moment, but only a moment, 'I didn't…what? …Wraith? Here? How? Have you cloaked the ship?'

'Our cloak doesn't work!' she snapped angrily, 'But there is _no way_ they could know we're here, believe me we made sure of that! Your tracking device must still be active, it's the only explanation!'

This anger and the underlying sense of panic continued as Kiryk listened to her belay orders to the crew back on the old Traveler ship. He kept his hands in the air, well aware of the pistol still pointed at him, but strained to overhear any developments nonetheless.

'_You_ are staying here,' Larrin's voice was cold and biting as she turned back to him. There was no room for negotiation. Kiryk could see that plainly. He would expect nothing less – she was not one of the most feared and respected Traveler captains for nothing.

'Easier for you if you kill me,' he challenged her, thinking if the implant had somehow reactivated itself, he'd rather be dead anyway and much rather at the hand of his own people.

'Easier for _you_, you mean,' she snapped back, 'Oh no, I'm leaving you to what you deserve, Kiryk.'

'Who decided I deserved this?!' he shot back, stung at her retort.

'You did! The day you got captured!' she hurled at him, gesturing the others to follow her with a jerk of her head.

'You think I wanted this? To be a Runner?!' he shouted after her retreating back.

Larrin turned midstride, her face an odd mixture of anger, resentment and…something else. For a brief moment her saw the shocking depth of her hurt.

'You think I wanted you to be gone all this time?' the intensity of her emotion hit him squarely in the chest, taking with it all his breath.

'You took my ship!' he stated again, furious and unable to get past this crime in his mind. Nothing else she said made sense, but this one fact stood out as one Kiryk could grasp.

'Of course I did!' she screamed, 'It was all I had left!'

And with that, Larrin was gone, leaving him to the dark forest and the cold wind…alone…once more.

* * *

'How are you doing?' Ronon slowed his pace, inspected the readout showing Kiryk's progress and looked back at Jennifer.

'I'm OK,' she replied, nodding. He looked her up and down, gauging the truth of her words. She really was doing well – he was impressed.

'All those long runs round the city,' he reminded her, 'you're fitter.'

'Thank you,' Jennifer took a deep breath, feeling self-conscious but pleased at his approval, 'how far away is Kiryk now, do you think?

'Not so far,' he wanted to be encouraging; he knew how hard she was trying.

Ronon regarded her. She was flushed from the exercise, hair tumbling messily over her shoulders, her eyes bright and sincere with concern for the other Runner.

'What is it?' Jennifer reacted to his dark stare with concern.

'You look beautiful,' the words were out before he could censor them – because it was the truth. It was completely the wrong moment and the wrong place, but some things were always simple and straightforward for Ronon Dex. This was one of them.

She immediately flushed and looked away, biting her lip.

'I'm sorry…' he started to repair the awkward silence as best he could, 'I shouldn't have said that…I just…sorry…uh…let's go.'

'Ronon…' to his surprise her small hand had reached out and now gently touched his forearm, 'it's OK, I need to learn to…I mean…it's not that I don't…'

'Just because you're interested in someone else doesn't change how I feel,' he offered interrupting her, 'it'll take more than that.'

'But I thought…? But you said…?' he could see Jennifer was remembering their conversation on the Daedalus as confusion and then embarrassment played across her features in quick succession.

'I lied,' it was a statement of fact and Ronon shrugged his shoulders at her open-mouthed gaze.

'So did I…' came her heartfelt reply, after just the briefest of pauses.

Jennifer's eyes welled with a hint of tears. In that moment Ronon caught a glimpse of the hurt behind her actions towards him over the last few days. She hung her head and refused to look at him, twisting one hand through the strap of her backpack uncomfortably.

'When we get back to Atlantis…' Ronon murmured. It was his turn to be confused, but elated at the same time that he had been right all along. She had lied. She _had_ lied.

'I know-' she finished for him, 'we need to talk.'

'We do,' he agreed, 'but for now, let's find Kiryk.'

'OK,' she mumbled.

He took a risk and held out his hand to her.

A simple act.

A symbolic one.

Jennifer gazed at it, her eyes uncertain and ashamed.

She decided.

Small fingers laced themselves firmly through larger ones.

'C'mon,' Ronon whispered.

They took off into the forest once more, all the while gaining ground on the other Runner.

* * *

'I don't like this,' Sheppard muttered, 'why haven't they cloaked?'

'Perhaps they cant?' offered Rodney, 'I mean, look at that thing, can it even fly?'

'Hmmmm,' was all the reply he got from his team leader. Non-reactions like this invariably made Rodney increasingly nervous, bearing in mind that he was constantly worried about something or other anyway.

'What are you thinking?' he hoped for clarification and got none. Instead, he observed Sheppard complete another fly past of the Traveler ship.

'Contact her,' Teyla stated simply, catching the concern in Sheppard's eye, 'that cruiser is heading this way, John, contact her,'

'Yeah,' he confirmed as Rodney groaned and put his head into his hands in exaggerated despair.

'Can I just remind you that your encounters with this…Larrin…have never been good for you…and therefore for us…by default.'

'I am not leaving her and her people to be sitting ducks, Rodney, get used to the idea!' Sheppard snapped back, clicking his comms link open on a wide frequency, 'Larrin, this is Sheppard, do you read? Larrin, respond please?'

The only reply was crackling static and an ominous radio silence.

'Try again,' Teyla urged him.

'Larrin, this is Sheppard, respond please…Larrin, do you-'

'Sheppard!' the Traveler captain's stunned tones cut through the expectant silence in the jumper cabin like a knife, 'what the _hell _are you doing here?'

'No time for that now, you have a Wraith cruiser en route to your position, get out of there!'

'Tell me something I don't know!' came the snapped reply, 'We have no cloak! Any ideas!?' The last question was apparently cynically rapped out, but Sheppard recognised desperation when he heard it.

'Rodney!' he rounded on the scientist, who was already rolling his eyes at the request undoubtedly coming his way, 'can you widen our cloak field to cover Larrin's ship?'

'Maybe, possibly, it'll take considerable power and some heinously difficult calculations that I could even begin to-'

'Rodney!' Sheppard hissed, 'can you do it?'

'Five minutes,' Rodney McKay had learned (to an extent) when it was best to keep his need for procrastination under control and this was definitely one of those times.

'Good!' Sheppard touched his earpiece again, 'Larrin, we're in a jumper above you, we'll have you cloaked in a few minutes, tell your people be ready to move that ship.'

'Already done,' came her efficient reply.

'Are you even on board?' Sheppard shot back suspiciously.

'No,' he heard a wry chuckle as she repeated his words back at him: 'no time for that now, I'll send you my coordinates.'

'OK, stand by…' he turned to Rodney, 'well?'

'Nearly there…' came the muttered reply, as Rodney McKay's fingertips flew furiously over his tablet.

'Rodney…' Sheppard urged, looking at the display console in front of him with mounting alarm.

The Wraith cruiser way above them had altered course just enough to show that the Traveler ship had been spotted by its sensors. The colonel thought perhaps the prospect of human prey in greater numbers was more tempting than one Runner.

'A large cloak field would be really good right about now….' he added.

* * *

**A/N: **No beta (she's still enjoying her vacation) so all my own errors – sorry! Please leave me reviews – I may have said it before, but they really do keep me writing, thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

Green snake-like eyes systematically scanned the forest ahead through infrared filters.

Checking the area ahead for signs of their prey were two hunter Wraith: expressionless, efficient and single-minded.

'This way,' one of them instructed the other curtly.

As one, they moved off into the darkness covering the ground like machines. Relentless and strong.

* * *

Ronon sensed them first, just as a moment later Jennifer's light touch landed on his arm. She had read three lifesigns on her hand-held monitor.

'C'mon,' he urged her and took off at a pace she balked at. How did the big man ever move so fast? The lightning speed of Ronon's reflexes and reactions had often been a topic of conversation amongst the marines back on Atlantis. Once again, she observed his tremendous physical strength in action with awe.

She caught up just as Ronon intercepted the first hunter Wraith. It lunged eagerly at Kiryk, who had tripped and fallen heavily to the ground. The other man had been taken by surprise and was struggling to regain his footing. His face was white and shocked.

A heavy thud sounded as Ronon's fist connected with the Wraith's chest. Next he swung for its face. A brutal crunching sound split the night air, followed by the creature's howl of anger. The Wraith spat what could only be blood from between its jagged teeth and the howl escalated into a scream. Jennifer couldn't quite see the ensuing sequence of rapid blows and which landed where…but then she heard the familiar hiss of Ronon's pistol charging and the reassuring sight of its laser firing several times.

The second Wraith paused in its advance. It now faced two tall muscular human males that looked entirely focused on the kill. A primal look it understood only too well.

It turned and ran.

Kiryk deftly caught Ronon's pistol in mid-air and fired one single, well-aimed shot into its back. It howled once more and collapsed, groaning and gasping. He raced to its position and stood over it, bitterness evident in his tired eyes. Two final shots ensured the Wraith's death.

Silence descended. Only the two men's breath could be heard, and seen as cold plumes of exhaled air.

Wordlessly, Ronon and Kiryk shook hands and nodded at each other.

Jennifer stepped out from behind the wide tree trunk that had provided timely cover. Her feet caused a twig to snap. She inhaled sharply and drew herself up short as both men were immediately alert and turned in her direction. Ronon relaxed first and put his hand out to lower the laser pistol Kiryk was automatically pointing in her direction.

'Easy,' he murmured.

Kiryk managed a smile as he looked from one to the other with confusion, then recognition and the beginnings of something near relief.

'Dr Keller,' he acknowledged as Jennifer closed the distance between them. She offered her hand and was surprised when she was caught up in an unexpected bear hug.

'How's Celise?'

Jennifer smiled. How completely like the Kiryk she remembered: focused, brave and utterly loyal.

'She's doing well and talks about you often,' she smiled in return.

'I should like to see her again one day,' the weary sadness underlying these words made Ronon wince.

'Your tracking device has reactivated,' he changed the topic to the pressing issue, before Jennifer could answer – Kiryk had to know.

The Runner gestured wryly at the two dead hunter Wraith, 'I guessed as much…' he paused and sighed, 'then I must get away from here and this planet as soon as possible, there's a ship that…'

'We know, we've seen it,' Ronon cut in. He felt the rawness of Kiryk's despair keenly, surprised by how this familiar feeling was only barely below the surface in himself….even after four years of freedom.

'I think I've worked out a way to deactivate the implant permanently,' Jennifer began tentatively, 'it's why we're here.'

Ronon's eyes widened. She had not mentioned her thinking around this to him or anyone.

'You said that last time,' Kiryk couldn't help but respond cynically, as he folded his arms.

'I know, and I'm…so…sorry it didn't work, but this time…' Jennifer explained self-consciously, 'it means surgery, complex surgery that carries real risks and so…'

'You need to do it back on Atlantis,' he finished, understanding the implications.

'Yeah,' she confirmed, 'and there's a chance it might…kill you.'

Kiryk pursed his lips and shrugged, 'There's good odds the Wraith will kill me anyway, so I'll take my chances under your knife, Doctor, besides…' he smiled grimly, 'if it means I get to see Celise just once more?'

'More than once I hope,' Jennifer whispered.

'We should go,' Ronon reminded them of their current precarious position. He scanned the terrain ahead warily, 'can't understand why there are no more Wraith…'

'Larrin!' Kiryk's attention was rapidly sharpened, 'they've found the ship!'

Ronon activated his comms link, willing Sheppard to reply. All he could hear was static and a distinct lack of communication with the jumper. He tapped the earpiece and tried again.

* * *

'Rodney…' the colonel was nearly at the point of closing his eyes against the displayed image of the Wraith cruiser moving closer and closer. _Might help for a moment_, he thought grimly, knowing even squinting at the screen was utterly stupid.

'Yes, yes…nearly…nearly…now!' the scientist looked up sharply from his tablet and pointed dramatically.

Sheppard hit the cloaking device controls.

They looked out of the jumper window.

Sheppard realised he was literally holding his breath.

Then Rodney McKay sighed with exaggerated satisfaction as the Traveler ship slowly faded from view.

The colonel exhaled and tapped his comms link.

'Larrin, this is Sheppard, please respond?'

'Sheppard,' her curt tones sounded immediately in his ear.

'Your ship's cloaked, but you need to move it to a new position…with us,' he explained, 'give your crew the order.'

'It's done,' she stated after a few seconds, 'I'll meet you there,'

'Are you sure? Don't you want back up?' Sheppard began, frowning, 'there's probably Wraith out there…'

'They'll be looking for…for a member of my crew…who's a Runner, we can handle them, Sheppard.'

'Oh, that'll be Kiryk then,' Sheppard grinned as he imagined her look at this apparently throwaway remark.

'You know him?' even Larrin couldn't disguise her surprise.

'Some of my team ran into him a while back,' he confirmed gaily, 'see you soon, Larrin, Sheppard out.'

* * *

Ronon grunted in exasperation at his comms link continued to feedback just static, despite his repeated efforts to contact Colonel Sheppard.

'Do you think the Wraith have found them already?' Jennifer looked at the Satedan, worry etched into her face.

'If there's a cruiser or a hive ship around it's probably automatically jamming the signal,' Kiryk suggested. Jennifer nodded; his quietly assured tones spoke of bitter experience in these matters.

Ronon's response was to try contacting the jumper just once more.

'Ronon!' the sound of Sheppard's voice bursting into life so sharply in the forest made him start. Jennifer breathed out in relief.

'You've probably got Wraith heading for that Traveler ship,' Ronon informed him swiftly.

'Yep, we know, Rodney managed to cloak it…and us…we're just moving out of their range now, do you have Kiryk?

Ronon's eyes met the other Runner's briefly, 'yes, he's here.'

'Dr Keller?' Jennifer clicked her earpiece on.

'Yes, Colonel?'

'You need to deactivate Kiryk's device again as soon as possible, no choice with all these Wraith about,' Sheppard instructed her, 'can you do that?'

'I can do that temporarily…I think…' she began, immediately worried, 'but as we know, it only works for a while…I…'

'Long enough to get him back to Atlantis?' the colonel cut in.

'Should be…but….' Jennifer felt the rising anxiety knot tightly in her stomach.

'Do it, Doctor,' Jennifer knew an order when she heard one, 'we'll rendezvous with you soon, Sheppard out.'

A steady touch on her shoulder. Ronon. His eyes warm and reassuring.

'You can do this,' he whispered, lifting a lock of her long hair and pushing it carefully off her face, 'you can.'

'You think so?' her voice was small and vulnerable, 'it could kill him…doing this a second time…I wanted to avoid…if we could only get back…'

'I'm ready.' Kiryk's brusque tones stated. He had already divested himself of his shirt and was preparing to lie flat so Jennifer could use the defribillator as she had before.

'This is dangerous, Kiryk, I don't want to…'

'Jennifer,' she thought it was the first time the Runner had used her first name and his low firm tone stopped her short, 'it's this…or the Wraith, at least _this_…' he indicated the backpack where he knew her equipment was waiting, 'is _my_ choice, even if it's my _last_ choice.'

'OK, yes,' she said, so quietly that even Ronon's good hearing wasn't sure of the words.

The defribillator paddles fitted flat against Kiryk's scarred, muscular torso as Jennifer rehearsed where they would sit on his skin. She took a deep breath, pausing to compose herself_. I've used this medical equipment many, many times,_ she told herself privately. _Only once before in these circumstances though; _her doubt returned to plague her.

'Jennifer,' Ronon urged. He was holding Kiryk's shoulders. They were both ready. _How odd these two such tough and extraordinary men should be so reliant on her skills right at this moment._ Then Jennifer Keller pushed aside this random thought and determinedly administered the electric current.

Kiryk groaned and convulsed – his whole body momentarily taut as wire. Then he fell back unconscious. Collapsed. Prone.

Jennifer scanned his seemingly lifeless body for signs of the tracking implant, her brow furrowed in concentration.

'It's deactivated,' she confirmed, breathing a sigh of relief.

'Good work,' Ronon nodded.

'Now we need to get him to come round,' she muttered, tension returning, 'frying the device a second time has placed an immense strain on his body, even for Kiryk.'

A noise in the darkness alerted Ronon. He whipped his head up at the same time as he reached for his laser pistol.

'Wraith?' Jennifer's eyes were wide with fear, 'Ronon, I can't move him…'

The Satedan was on his feet, scanning the dark forest ahead and behind them with rapid efficiency.

'Doesn't sound like Wraith…' he muttered, charging the pistol, 'someone's out there though…kept themselves hidden well…'

'Come out!' Ronon snapped into the darkness.

A slim, leather-clad young woman with long dark hair and fierce intelligent eyes ignored him and ran straight towards Kiryk. A man in similar clothing apparently accompanying her slowed at the sight of Ronon's pistol and raised his hands.

'What have you done to him?!' Larrin Shogar demanded of Jennifer angrily.

Jennifer instinctively recoiled at the furious passion in this accusation and raised her hands defensively, stepping back.

* * *

**A/N: **So here's a little more of this odd tale…let me know what you think! Couple-ish more chapters to go I think…although depends on the GLENN effect as ever !

Unbeta-ed again – all errors mine – think I've got rid of most, but apologies if I've missed anything. J07 x


	7. Chapter 7

Jennifer recoiled at the laser pistol thrust angrily in her face.

'What's happened to Kiryk?' Larrin hissed at her, pushing Atlantis' CMO backwards with the barrel of her pistol,'What have you done to him?'

'I…uh…' Jennifer backed up further, faintly aware of Ronon slowly moving up behind Larrin, the other Traveler being pushed ahead of him still at gunpoint. She tried not to look at the Satedan and concentrated on the other woman's steely gaze. _She must only be around my age_, Jennifer experienced one of those ill-timed musings that always sprang into her mind unbidden. _What's made her so tough and the look in her eyes so…old?_

Ronon's movements, however slight had not escaped Larrin's attentions.

'Tell your friend to lower his weapon, or I _will _shoot,' she snapped, eyes not wavering from Jennifer's face.

_How had she known?_ Jennifer's eyes flicked to Ronon's. He nodded and lowered his pistol, yet his whole countenance was completely alert as if ready to pounce.

'Now tell me what you've done to him,' Larrin demanded again, her tone calmer but the fury in her eyes still evident.

'He's a Runner…' Jennifer began, 'He had a tracking device in his back, I deactivated it once before, but it's switched itself back on again, I've just…' she looked with mounting concern at Kiryk's still form, 'I've just deactivated again, but I need to revive him. That's what…' she paused and took a breath, trying to ease the tension across her shoulders, 'That's what I was about to do when you appeared…'

'And why should I believe you?' Larrin's reply was what Jennifer expected. She opened her mouth to give what she hoped would sound like a convincing answer.

'Well now,' Larrin swung around in surprise at Sheppard's laconic drawl, 'that's because they're the team mates that ran into Kiryk before, like I told you, try listening to me next time.'

Her eyes narrowed. It allowed a moment of distraction during which Ronon expertly disarmed her. At the same time Teyla trained her P-90 on the Traveler man accompanying her.

'Sheppard!' Larrin's low mutter was almost a growl.

Sheppard grinned. He couldn't help it.

'Larrin,' the colonel acknowledged oh-so-casually, 'this is Ronon, Teyla, Rodney McKay…and this…' he gestured at Jennifer, 'is our highly skilled chief medical officer who was actually about to save Kiryk's life, so…' he waggled a finger at the Traveler captain, enjoying her exasperation, 'it's really not a good idea to kill her, you know?'

Sheppard thought Larrin looked ready to kill him instead, that or stamp her furious foot on the forest floor. Getting the upper hand over this wily young woman had so far made his day. He grinned again. Larrin groaned and looked away.

'Jennifer?' Rodney McKay's voice interrupted in a worried tone, 'Are you OK?'

'I am now,' she smiled at them all with relief, 'Ronon, can you pass me my bag?'

The Satedan complied, knowing the urgency of the situation. Both of them missed the subtle look of disappointment that flitted across Rodney's features. In reaching for Jennifer's medical kit, Ronon passed Larrin's pistol to his team leader.

'Here,' he said wryly, 'you always wanted one of these.'

'Nice,' Sheppard agreed, weighing the laser pistol deliberately in his hand to test its balance. Larrin took a step forward - her anger getting the better of her. The pistol barrel pointed directly at her chest.

'Oh no,' the colonel told her firmly, 'Not yet, Larrin. Stay still.'

'What do you need?' Ronon had opened the medical kit as Jennifer tried resuscitation techniques on Kiryk.

'No pulse,' she murmured worriedly, 'Adrenaline injection, I need an adrenaline…do you know what that…?'

Jennifer found the packaged needle in her hand before she'd finished her sentence and mumbled her thanks. She looked down and readied it, embarrassed that she'd assumed Ronon wouldn't have known what to look for.

'Know about basic battle medicine,' he eased her discomfort gently, 'it was part of my training, just called _that_…' he indicated the adrenaline, '…something different, that's all.'

'I'm sorry,' she responded, easing the needle carefully into Kiryk's chest.

The pause seemed endless. They all waited.

And waited.

'So that's Kiryk, huh?' Sheppard whispered in Teyla's ear, 'Looks like a Runner, 'bout as big as Ronon.'

Teyla raised her eyebrows and replied, 'I'm sure size isn't everything to do with it, Colonel.'

The obvious witty reply was on the tip of Sheppard's tongue, but her warning look of reprisal made him think better of it.

A slight cough, then a deeper cough and then a rasping intake of breath heralded Kiryk's return to consciousness. Ronon supported him from behind as the big man coughed and spluttered until his heart and lungs started to function in tandem.

'Easy, easy,' Jennifer echoed Ronon's use of this soothing word from earlier.

'You nearly lose me again?' Kiryk reminded her of the last time they had been in this situation.

'Only for a while,' Jennifer reassured him with a smile and handed him his jacket, 'The device is deactivated, but we need to get you back to Atlantis to remove it permanently,'

'Kiryk,' something in Larrin's tones immediately got Sheppard's attention. It was something he'd never heard before, something he couldn't quite put his finger on: anger, certainly, pain, yes…but what else?

'Larrin,' Kiryk struggled to his feet, despite Jennifer's protestations.

'So,' the Traveler captain said simply. A kaleidoscope of emotion ranged across her features – that's what Sheppard had never seen before. Larrin was usually so completely…controlled. _Whatever is was between these two, it's got a long history_, he thought candidly.

'So,' Kiryk parodied, 'Seems leaving me to what I deserve isn't working out so well.'

'Makes no difference to anything,' she muttered derisively, trying hard to reign in her conflicting emotions.

'I came back as soon as I could,' Kiryk explained – it was the truth.

'Four years,' Larrin's tone was bitter as she reminded him of this again, 'that's a long time, Kiryk.'

'I never stopped trying to get back to you, not ever.' His expression was steady, honest but deeply tired.

'Too long…' the glut of emotion in Larrin's voice was hard to bear and Sheppard turned away, indicating they should all back off and give the two Travelers some space.

'You took my ship,' Kiryk stated once more.

'_Gods!_' she shouted, 'Must it always come back to that?! Of course I took your ship! You don't know everything that happened that day - it was that or leave it to the Wraith, it's a Traveler ship, Kiryk…a Traveler ship!'

'So you left me to the Wraith instead,' he shot back coldly.

It was true. Larrin knew it. He knew it.

The unspoken had been spoken.

'I…' it was the first time he could ever remember her falter.

'I thought we meant more to each other than that,' Kiryk pursued, his voice lowered to a whisper.

'What was I supposed to do?!' the hurt caused Larrin's eyes to mist over with angry tears, 'the Wraith had taken you!'

'I would have come for _you_,' he murmured with feeling, 'but you left me behind. You broke the Charter.'

'I did.' she admitted and straightened, drawing on some hidden vestiges of dignity, 'And I have lived with that decision every day since!' Larrin's finger jabbed at him aggressively, 'You think that's been _easy_?!'

Kiryk shrugged - his gaze hard now, 'I want my ship back.'

'Fine!' the word was sharp, like a knife, 'but I think a little trip to Atlantis is needed first to get rid of that tracking device in your back, by which time your precious ship will be long gone.'

'No,' he watched Sheppard and Ronon's weapons being armed in the background. He knew they were listening and waiting for a signal, 'you're coming to Atlantis with me, Doctor Keller will do the necessary surgery and _then_ I want my ship.'

'No, you…' Larrin began, but at Kiryk's nod Sheppard stepped forward and deftly clamped restraints on her wrists.

'Always a lot of trouble this one.' Sheppard muttered to him. He didn't expect a reply and didn't get one.

* * *

The ascent from the planet's atmosphere was slow with the battered Traveler ship in tow, a Wraith cruiser to avoid and an extended cloaking shield for Rodney to maintain. This only added to the silent, tense atmosphere in the back of the jumper.

Jennifer finished checking Kiryk's vital signs and moved forwards to the front cabin, leaving the stoic Traveler to stare fixedly at the wall. Larrin sat a small distance away, still in restraints and saying nothing, her jaw rigid.

'Wow,' Jennifer said in a low voice to Teyla, 'That was some reunion.'

Teyla smiled at the doctor's unease.

'They love each other still,' the Athosian noted calmly, her shrewd understanding of human nature evident as always.

'You think so?' Jennifer frowned, 'But they're so…angry…and so _hurt_.'

'Exactly,' Teyla smiled, 'maybe it's not too late for them.'

She watched Jennifer consider this and then added, 'Even if they have said many things they did not mean in the heat of the moment, the connection between them has survived, despite all.'

Jennifer couldn't decide if Teyla's intense gaze was a knowing one or not, but the words made her blush all the same. She became acutely aware of Ronon listening to their conversation. Letting her hair fall across her face, Jennifer pretended to examine the tablet laptop containing her data on Kiryk's tracking device.

'OK,' Sheppard announced, 'find me that stargate please, Rodney. Let's get out of here.'

* * *

**A/N **beta-ed by the wonderful **renisanz**, with thanks– phew! Please leave me your reviews and let me know what you think. Thanks. J07 x


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **thanks to **agent1332** for the Caldwell idea!

* * *

Celise tried hard to sit and wait for the stargate to finish lighting its chevrons and the shimmer of the wormhole to appear. She'd been instructed to sit because of her healing leg, but it was hard to do so when she knew that Kiryk was about to step through into Atlantis. She jiggled and fidgeted on the chair put out for her in the gateroom. Kiryk was coming here…to Atlantis! She could hardly believe his words when Mr Woolsey had come to tell her of the Runner's imminent arrival. She'd hadn't been able to concentrate at all on his detailed explanation as to why Colonel Sheppard had left the puddlejumper on another planet meaning they were returning to Atlantis on foot. All she heard was that Kiryk was coming...Kiryk.

The same Richard Woolsey descended the gateroom steps with Radek Zelenka and spied the small girl staring earnestly at the activating stargate.

'C'mon,' he said to her, beckoning with a smile.

Celise was up and on both her feet in an instant. Radek Zelenka looked concerned at this for a moment, but Woolsey shook his head at this.

'Nothing,' he informed the Czech scientist, 'but nothing was going to keep this young lady away, might as well let her be first to extend greetings to our visitors!'

'I see that,' Radek smiled fondly at Celise. They had all grown to like the solemn little girl immensely. 'And I hear we have the Traveler captain Larrin paying us a visit too?'

'Yes,' something about the wry tone of Woolsey's voice caught his attention, 'And the Daedalus has her ship in tow here as we speak.'

'Oh,' Radek Zelenka suppressed his grin as best he could, 'I bet Colonel Caldwell had some views on that, wasn't he on his way back to Earth? And a Traveler ship too?!'

'Yes.' Woolsey nodded and coughed slightly, 'Let's just say we had a long and forthright conversation about it.'

'I'll bet.' Radek let his grin form and chuckled. Stephen Caldwell's precise attention to military protocol was legendary among the civilian members of the Atlantis expedition, but not for reasons the colonel would like.

Roaring into life, the wormhole surged through the gateroom settling and rippling between the stargate chevrons. There was a pause and Celise strained to see who was about to come through.

Kiryk.

Followed by Ronon, Jennifer, Sheppard, McKay, Teyla and a man and a woman she didn't recognise.

But Kiryk was here.

She ran forward with her lopsided gait as fast as she could. Kiryk's arms swung her up high and slipping her arms tightly around his neck, Celise let tears fall freely down her face.

'Celise,' the big man said gruffly, hugging her to him, 'you OK?'

'I'm much better,' she reassured him, 'Doctor Jennifer cured me, like she said she would.'

Kiryk turned to Jennifer and she flushed at the intense emotion in his face.

'Thank you.' he offered sincerely, 'Thank you.'

'You're welcome,' she replied, humbled by what she saw between these two refugees of the Pegasus Galaxy, 'She was a great patient.'

Kiryk smiled at Celise and hugged her again, not letting her to the floor just yet. The young girl was half listening to Colonel Sheppard's explanation of presence of the two Travelers. Both looked tired, dirty and surly. It was the fire in the eyes of the dark-haired woman that made Celise focus fully. She returned the gaze with a strength that belied her years.

'Larrin,' Kiryk turned so Celise and she could meet face-to-face, 'this is Celise…' he halted, thinking then announced, 'She's from Kirindal.'

'Kirindal.' Larrin murmured, her sullen expression softening a tiny amount.

'Where?' Jennifer whispered to Ronon. She'd noticed that he and Teyla were the only other people to recognise the name.

'Kirindal,' he repeated the name, genuinely astonished, 'It's a…I thought it was just a legend….but some people thought it was real…it's meant to be…it's a holy planet…'

'Yeah, it's real,' Kiryk interjected.

'You've been there?' Teyla looked at him in wonder.

'Yeah,' he confirmed, 'I thought the holy ones (if they even existed) might be able to deactivate my tracking device…a long shot, I know… I eventually found the planet, but it seems the Wraith had got there long before…there wasn't much left.'

'Except Celise.' Jennifer concluded, as she remembered the circumstances surrounding her meeting with this unlikely duo.

'Except I couldn't deactivate the device,' the girl added quietly, 'my training had not advanced to that level. And I was wounded from the most recent Wraith attack.'

'Well, hopefully I can deactivate it for good this time,' Jennifer reminded Kiryk of his impending surgery. 'That is, if I still have your consent to try?'

'You do.' His agreement was serious and committed.

'Holy ones? Advanced training?' McKay muttered excitedly to Sheppard as the gateroom cleared, 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?!'

'Yes, Rodney, of course I am!' the colonel whispered back, 'But now is _not_ the time, OK? Let Jennifer do what she needs to do and _then _we can ask him and Celise about that.'

'But…' Rodney's face was anguished.

'But _nothing_, Rodney!' Sheppard warned, 'If that device in Kiryk's back reactivates, we won't have a chance to go exploring anywhere!'

'OK, OK,' the scientist saw the logic in this and conceded defeat….for the time being.

* * *

'There's some things you need to tell us, I think?' Jennifer took Celise's offered hand as the little girl was lowered to the ground.

Celise nodded and smiled up at Jennifer warmly, 'Now Kiryk's here, yes, and when he's better.'

'Honey,' Jennifer squeezed the slight hand in hers, 'you know…you know there's a chance that Kiryk might not survive the surgery I have to do?'

There was no point in lying to Celise; Jennifer felt this wise young soul deserved the truth as she would instantly recognise anything short of that.

'I know.' Celise agreed,' But you will succeed, I know it.'

Jennifer felt a glut of emotion form in her chest at this unconditional declaration of faith in her medical abilities.

'I hope so.'

'And then you must tell Ronon you love him.' The calm delivery of this statement made Jennifer gasp and stare open-mouthed at Celise.

'Wha…at?' she stuttered.

'Please, he needs you…' Celise explained, '…and you need him. And you look nice together.'

'I do? We do?'

'Yes.' Celise couldn't help a giggle at the doctor's embarrassment. Adults always seemed to duck the important issues, she decided, even her long-deceased parents had been the same for all their knowledge and training.

'OK.' Jennifer shook her head, 'I'll see what I can do.'

'Promise?' Celise insisted.

'Promise.'

* * *

Jennifer left the operating theatre at the sight of Ronon entering the gantry above. She felt her heart skip a beat with delight and blushed at the warm smile he gave her. These rare smiles seemed to spread across his whole face and light his eyes intensely. It transformed the impassive Runner's mask he habitually wore.

'Can I talk to Kiryk?' Ronon asked her.

'Yes,' she nodded her agreement, 'but we're nearly ready to begin, so not too long, OK?'

'OK.' His voice was soft and affectionate, as was the light pat on her arm given as Ronon swung down the stairs. Jennifer smiled to herself. She looked at the audio controls for the operating theatre beneath her hand – she knew she should mute their conversation out of respect, but curiosity got the better of her and her hand lingered in mid air above the relevant button.

'You ready for this?' Ronon looked at Kiryk. The other Runner lay stretched out on an infirmary bed, dressed in just a white medical gown. Even this incongruent garb did not detract from his sheer physical presence.

'Yeah, as I'll ever be.' Kiryk took Ronon's offered hand and shook it slowly.

'Larrin wants to see you.' Ronon stated next, his expression neutral.

'Does she?' Kiryk sighed, his brow furrowing deeply.

'You known each other a long time?' Ronon enquired carefully, while he let the other man consider Larrin's request.

'Oh yeah,' came the sardonic reply, 'we were born on the same ship, grew up on the same ship and…' the rest trailed off and Kiryk looked away, all too conscious of his words.

'You love her,'

Kiryk eyed Ronon. They held each other's gaze.

'Yeah, ' he finally admitted, 'always have, you don't stop loving someone just because they said and did some stupid stuff. Even if it was _really _stupid stuff.'

'Yeah,' there was a hint of sadness in Ronon's tone that Kiryk did not miss.

'Jennifer,' Kiryk observed quietly in return, 'You love Jennifer.'

Ronon nodded and shrugged awkwardly; it was his turn to feel self-conscious.

'You told her that?'

A shake of the head made Kiryk tut.

'Me and Larrin…' he began, clearing his throat, 'we wasted a lot of time even before…before me being a Runner…wasted time not saying what was really important, we were…' he thought carefully, 'always so competitive and we fought…all the time…shoulda said some things…' he paused and coughed, 'anyways, what I mean is…tell Jennifer, tell her now before it's too late.'

'Might already be too late.' Ronon murmured, thinking of Rodney McKay and all the things Atlantis' chief scientist and Jennifer could probably share in life: background, education, culture, interests…

'No,' Kiryk smiled slightly, 'It's not, believe me, it's not. She's a good woman – Jennifer - a really good woman. Don't waste any time, Ronon. Don't give away your advantage here.'

'You think I have one?'

'For sure.' Kiryk smiled broadly this time and Ronon thought that he'd never seen him do this, 'I've seen it.'

'OK,' Ronon smiled back, thinking that there was no one else he could have had this conversation with. Not even Teyla this time could have understood so well.

'And Larrin?' he prompted, raising an eyebrow.

Kiryk sighed again.

'Send her in.'

* * *

**A/N:** beta-ed by **renisanz** with thanks. She reminded me that Kiryk and Celise needed a reunion, so the opening scene is for her.

The whole Kirindal thing might be another fic for another time…now I come to think of it…maybe.

Reviews make me happy, so please leave me many as I am addicted, I confess! – J07x


	9. Chapter 9

Larrin nervously rubbed her wrists where the restraints had been as she stepped forward to Kiryk's bedside.

'You OK?' he opened, observing the dark circles under her eyes. He was tired of conflict. He wanted what might be their last conversation to at least have no shouting in it.

She nodded, saying nothing.

'You get your gun back?' Kiryk tried again.

Larrin pursed her lips.

'No.' she muttered, 'No gun. No ship. No…' Larrin stopped and Kiryk realised how close to tears she was.

'Back there…on the planet…' he struggled to sit up, so he could face her better. 'You said something about me not knowing everything that happened…that day the Wraith took me…'

She looked away, wrestling with her emotions. _She looks… tortured_, he thought.

'What happened, Larrin?' It was now or never. He needed to know.

'There were two Wraith ships,' she whispered, looking at her hands. 'One in orbit. Probably accompanying the other. It started moving in on our position…'

'So you got out before they got you, which meant leaving me behind.' He finished for her.

'Yeah,' Larrin's head was still hung low, 'and so it looked like I abandoned you, because…' she breathed out a ragged sigh, 'had it been only the _one_ Wraith ship we would have had time to get you out. I know that. I know how it must have looked. But I made my choice.'

They gazed at each other for a long moment.

'I would have done the same.' Kiryk conceded. He spoke the truth. It was good to understand at last.

A single tear escaped and made its way down her proud features.

'The Council banished me and the crew for a year, all the same.' she shrugged wearily, 'We nearly starved to death. They could have left to join other ships…'

'But they didn't…' he smiled, 'you always inspired loyalty, Larrin.'

'But I lost yours.' Her voice was barely audible.

'No,' Kiryk reached out and took her hand, 'No, you didn't.'

* * *

Jennifer looked down from the gantry and felt tears form at the sight below. She half expected Larrin to pull her hand away but she didn't. A minute or so later the Traveler captain left the operating room with a subtle change in her countenance. She seemed, Jennifer realised, relieved.

Then Jennifer Keller stood and firmly told herself she should stop eavesdropping on other people's conversations. It was time for Kiryk's surgery.

* * *

The procedure was as long and delicate as Atlantis' CMO had known it would be. The audience in the gantry came and went: Celise and Larrin the only constants. Although by the end, Jennifer was only dimly aware of which nurses were assisting her. It had taken all her powers of concentration to extract every bit of the complex device implanted in Kiryk's back. Some of it was fused to his flesh from the effect of the defribillator; other parts seemed to have grown into his very muscle and nerve endings. Yet disconnecting the implant's tendrils from his spinal cord was the part that scared her the most. It wasn't only her breath that was held during those particular agonising moments.

Eventually, Jennifer lowered the bloodied item into a dish and handed it over to Rodney.

'It's still inactive,' he murmured transfixed by the sensor read-out yielding this information, 'but just to be sure…'

'Thanks Rodney,' Jennifer managed a tired thin smile, knowing the implant was in good hands and would soon never transmit a signal ever again.

'Will he be OK?' Rodney gestured to Kiryk's prone body.

'I hope so.' She replied, 'We'll soon know.'

'Good work, Jennifer.' He smiled, almost shyly at her. Jennifer didn't miss the hint of sadness behind Rodney McKay's eyes.

'Rodney…'

'I should get this to my lab,' he interrupted hastily, breaking eye contact and backing out of the operating theatre.

Jennifer sighed and turned back to her patient.

'OK, let's get him comfortable,' she said to her team and took a deep breath, mustering what she knew was the last of her energy and focus.

* * *

'How's he doing?' Ronon asked her.

Jennifer jumped.

The gantry had emptied at last and she'd thought she'd been alone watching over Kiryk. The silence was punctuated only by the quiet rhythmic sounds of the life support equipment below. She'd found it soothing and relaxing somehow.

'Sorry.' Ronon apologised, seeing he'd disturbed her.

'It's OK,' she smiled up at him, hoping he wouldn't see the shadows under her eyes, 'He's doing OK actually. He's very tough.'

'He has a good doctor.'

'Thank you.' Jennifer replied, thinking hard. _Now was the time_, she told herself, _now was the time to say something_. To clear the air. Get things out in the open. She twisted her hands together and considered how to begin.

'Jennifer?' Ronon's deep voice sounded directly behind her. _Had he moved closer?_ 'What is it?'

'I heard what you said.' Jennifer tried to stop her lip from trembling and forced herself to meet Ronon's green eyes, 'In there,' she gestured to the room below, 'to Kiryk, about me.'

'OK,' Ronon confirmed her confession, any further words drying in his throat.

'So,' _why couldn't he make this easier for them both? _'Is there something you want to tell me?' Jennifer asked, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.

'Is it time for that talk we needed?' Ronon replied with another question, his eyes beginning to crinkle with amusement at the beautiful blush that had begun creeping up Jennifer's neck. _She feels just as awkward as me,_ he realised with relief.

'Ronon!' she admonished softly.

'Why did you say what you said?' he cut straight to the heart of the matter.

'Because…' she bit her lip again, took a deep breath and said, 'because it was all I could think of in the moment…because I needed time to think…about you…and about you and me…I know it was a stupid thing to say. I'm sorry.'

'Why?' Ronon took her hand gently and stared at her fingers. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles marvelling at how soft her skin was. 'Why did you need to think about…us?'

'You scared me,' Jennifer felt tears prick her eyelids as she finally said it. Saying it aloud was like releasing a long held, heavy burden.

'Scared you?' his expression darkened. He didn't understand.

'The way you took control on the Daedalus,' she blinked tears away and looked up at him, 'It made me realise how…how _different_ we are…what different lives we've come from…yours has been so fierce, so full of loss, fighting, violence…I'm…I'm not sure if I can live up to that…if I'm good enough…or strong enough…perhaps I'm too…'

'Jennifer' he interrupted her with one finger placed on her lips. The look of deep anguish on her face was too much. 'I agree, you are everything my life isn't, and that's exactly why you're right for me.'

'Really?' she squeaked out from underneath Ronon's finger.

'Yeah.' he smiled and let his hands travel lightly down her arms until her hands rested in his. She shivered at his touch and blushed again.

'Oh.'

'And you're _way_ strong enough,' Ronon reassured her, pulling her towards him. 'Look what you did for Kiryk, back there on the planet and here…just now. You didn't give up on him. He was a Runner. You freed him. You have his loyalty forever now.'

'Really?' Jennifer felt embarrassed at her apparent inability to say anything coherent, but Ronon's warm closeness was more than a little distracting.

'Yeah.' He bent and brushed his lips tentatively over hers – an ever-so-slight touch to show Jennifer his promise for the future. Their future. Ronon grinned as her arms slid shyly round his back.

'I expect we might fight sometimes,' Jennifer whispered, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed, 'I don't always agree with everything you say.'

Ronon knew she was referring to their clash of wills back on the Daedalus and chuckled. How this woman could think she wasn't strong enough for him was unbelievable.

'I'm sure we will,' he rested his forehead on hers, 'and I might scare you again sometimes, and…' his face was more serious for a moment, 'there's always a chance that someday I may not come back from a mission.'

'I know.' Jennifer rested one side of her face on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

'Promise me one thing?' she looked up at Ronon's voice.

'What?'

'Don't ever push me away again,' he insisted, '_tell_ me what's wrong.'

'I promise.' The words were lost as his mouth closed firmly over hers this time.

It was a first kiss, but also a kiss of reconciliation, and of passion and warmth but more than anything it was a kiss of coming home.

'You'll have to tell Rodney.' Ronon murmured in her ear as they drew apart, 'He'll be disappointed.'

'He will.' Jennifer gazed up at him, 'But he never had the advantage here. You always did.'

* * *

**A/N:** There might be a bit more…let me know what you think should go in a potental last chapter/epilogue? And let me know if you liked this chapter of course!

Beta-ed by the wonderful **renisanz** – make sure you read her latest fic called **Eternal Stimuli**


	10. Chapter 10

**Epilogue**

**A couple of weeks or so later:**

Kiryk smiled at Celise as her feet padded across the infirmary floor as predicted. He'd got used to her visits and enjoyed spending time with the young girl. She was good at checkers and a game the Atlantis people called 'chess' – it had been a long, long time since he had enjoyed simple leisure pursuits like these.

'Hello,' she said, hitching herself up on to his bunk.

'Good morning.' Kiryk indicated that she should reach for the chessboard where they had left it the previous evening.

'Oh, OK.' Celise nodded.

They were engrossed in this latest game when Jennifer turned up on her daily ward rounds.

'Jennifer,' Kiryk acknowledged her warmly.

Jennifer Keller was struck by how often Kiryk Tavin smiled these days and how much younger it made him look.

'How are you doing today?' she asked, absently stroking hair away from Celise's forehead as she spoke. Celise's reaction was to reach up and place a light kiss on Jennifer's cheek.

'Hi, honey.' Jennifer beamed at her.

'I feel OK, better each day in fact,' the big man confirmed, 'you did a good job.'

'Back still sore in places?' Jennifer gestured for him to lean forward so she could inspect the scars that the surgery had caused.

'Yeah, but it's bearable,' Kiryk grinned at her tut, knowing that her views on what was a normal pain threshold differed to his.

'You're as bad as Ronon!' she muttered good-naturedly, satisfied with his progress nonetheless.

'Of whom you have being seeing a lot lately, I hear?' Kiryk couldn't resist teasing Jennifer.

'You hear, do you?' Jennifer tried to hide the heat forming on her cheeks by mock-glaring at Celise. The little girl feigned an innocent look and smiled back.

'Oh yes, my source of information tells me that the Satedan can cook well for two, ah…what else? Let's see…' Kiryk made to count on his fingers, '…that he has taken you for a midnight picnic down on the east pier, accompanied you to two movie nights and a…'

'OK, OK,' Jennifer stopped him continuing, thoroughly embarrassed. 'Celise!' she admonished Kiryk's spy with a pointed look.

'We're happy for you, both of you,' Kiryk explained more seriously as Celise nodded in vigorous agreement, 'that's all.'

'And what about you and Larrin?' Jennifer neatly deflected the attention away from herself and Ronon.

'Well,' they all turned at Larrin's voice. The Traveler captain stood, leaning in the doorway a look of wry amusement on her face, 'that'll take longer…' she added, stepping into the room.

'We don't shout anymore…at least.' Kiryk told Jennifer, raising his eyebrows. But the warm look that passed between the two of them told the real story of how far they had come in resolving their differences.

To Jennifer's surprise, Celise hopped off the bed and took Larrin's hand, prompting her to take her place sitting on Kiryk's bed.

'Sometimes…' the young girl rolled her eyes at Jennifer, 'I have to help them…have to remind them that they _can_ talk to each other, because they _do _love each other.'

'Celise!' Jennifer exclaimed for the second time that day, trying to stifle her laughter.

'You adults,' the girl muttered, her eyes twinkling, 'You're just SO bad at what matters!'

'No chance of that with you around, cheeky miss!' Kiryk chuckled at her, but Jennifer noticed how Larrin's hand had slipped into his and stayed there.

'The ship is here,' Larrin told him quietly, 'arrived this morning. Sheppard has set his people onto the necessary repairs.'

'_The_ ship?' he regarded her carefully. This was new.

'OK, _your _ship.' She conceded, a smile lurking around her lips.

'No, _our_ ship.' Kiryk didn't want to tease her any further. They had been through too much.

'_Our _ship. I like that.' Larrin allowed herself to say.

'Does that mean you'll be leaving?' Celise couldn't hide the anguish in her tone.

'Do you wanna come with us?' Larrin asked in reply.

Celise let her mouth drop open in surprise. Her gaze transferred to Kiryk for confirmation of this. His expression was exactly the same: inviting, welcoming and affectionate.

'Can I?' the little girl turned to Jennifer, 'I mean…is my leg…?'

Jennifer squeezed her round the shoulders, saying, 'I should think by the time Kiryk and Larrin are ready to go, your leg will be absolutely fine, so it's up to you, honey.'

'Really?' Celise was astonished, 'but I won't see you and Ronon, and Colonel Sheppard and Dr Zelenka and Teyla and Mr Woolsey…and -'

The three adults laughed.

'You can come back here anytime,' Kiryk reassured her, looking to Jennifer for confirmation of this. She nodded.

'And Rodney was gonna teach me science….' She remembered, a half pout forming.

_Rodney. _Jennifer felt a jolt inside thinking of her colleague and friend. She'd been avoiding him. She had been so overjoyed and blown away by the blossoming heady romance between her and Ronon, that her mind hadn't had any room for anything else lately. But some things needed to be said, out of respect for her and Rodney's friendship if nothing else.

'Uh…guys,' she murmured, 'there's something I have to do, be right back.'

Larrin and Celise nodded, already planning what the little girl could bring with her and where they might go.

'Jennifer?' Kiryk called out after her.

'Yeah?'

'It's the right thing,' he said, 'what you're about to do.'

'Is there anything you don't know?' she grinned ruefully at him, shaking her head.

'Not much.' Kiryk grinned back, 'Go.'

* * *

'Rodney?'

Jennifer tried to keep her voice steady as she entered Rodney McKay's lab. He was there, exactly where she'd thought he might be: pouring over a computer and immersed in something.

'Jennifer! Ah…' he looked immediately awkward, 'Ah…didn't see you. Everything OK?'

'Yes,' she sat down on the stool next to him, 'I need to talk to you about something…something important.'

'It's OK!' Rodney McKay didn't look up, speaking with a forced cheeriness, 'I know what's on your mind.'

'You do?' Jennifer was surprised at this response. His unease around her lately had shown her he understood more than he was letting on, but even so…this was not what she'd expected.

Rodney glanced up briefly and for a moment, she saw the shadow in his eyes, 'Oh yes, I do.' He muttered, turning back to his screen and continued, 'Let me see, you've come to tell me that you value my friendship, that you're very fond of me, that you're very very sorry if you've given me the wrong idea, and would hate to think that you've broken my heart, but you really want to make things clear between us and so you've come to tell me…' at this point Rodney McKay looked up. '…that you're in love with Ronon, that you always have been and he is with you.'

The latter was said so gently with none of his usual façade of sarcastic bluster that Jennifer was lost for words. She had promised herself there'd be no tears, but was unable to prevent her eyes from misting over at this point.

'He's a lucky man,' Rodney murmured. 'And it's OK…' he continued, 'well, actually it's _not_ OK, because I _do_ have a broken heart...'

She stifled a half-sob half-laugh at the characteristic humour used to deal with his own feelings.

'But…we _will_ always be friends.' Rodney finished quietly.

'Thank you,' she breathed, 'And I'm sorry, Rodney…I…'

'No!' he waggled a finger at her in mock-reprimand, smiling sadly, 'That's all the heart-break I can take for today, Dr Keller! Leave it there!'

'OK.' She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek, before standing and heading towards the door. Then the scientist's voice sounded unexpectedly behind her.

'Jennifer.'

She turned.

'Ronon's a good man, and a good friend.' Rodney gave her a small smile.

Jennifer simply nodded, her hand on the doorjamb. Saying nothing more, she headed back to the infirmary.

'And one day….' Rodney sighed, perusing the data before him once again, 'Dr Rodney McKay, brilliant scientist, explorer, adventurer…will get the girl…but not today. Today, my man, the advantage is not yours….'

* * *

Ronon released Jennifer from a long, lingering embrace and placed a few feather-light kisses on her nose and forehead. They were standing on one of the many outside balconies. It was evening and the city's lights twinkled cheerfully across the blue-black sky.

'Hmmmm,' she said dreamily, tightening her arms around his waist, enjoying the tickle of his beard on her skin.

'Did you see Rodney?' he asked.

'Yeah,' she tipped her head back to meet Ronon's green-eyed gaze.

'Well?' he smiled as she pulled his head down to hers.

'He knew.' Jennifer sighed, 'He knew already. He made it easy for me.'

'He's a good man,' Ronon whispered, 'that's why.'

'Funny,' Jennifer considered this with interest. 'He said the same about you.'

'Good.' Ronon agreed as he leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

**A/N:** That's it, dear readers – thanks for sticking with this fic! Wishing you all a Merry Christmas or Seasons Greetings. Please leave me your reviews and also any thoughts as to what kind of fic you'd like next? In the meantime I'll get back to 'Who Cares?' and wait for a visit from GLENN! Thanks again to **renisanz** for beta-ing and also providing me with the inspiration for this fic in the first place - after not being able to write anything for a while. J07 x


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